Enabling Situation Awareness Under High Levels of Automation: Results From An Experimental Study
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Technologies (ART) program sponsors research, development and deployment activities through its Next Generation Nuclear Plant, Advanced Reactor Concepts, and Advanced Small Modular Reactor (aSMR) programs to promote safety, technical, economical, and environmental advancements of innovative Generation IV nuclear energy technologies. The Human Automation Collaboration (HAC) research project is located under the aSMR program, which identifies developing advanced instrumentation and controls and human-machine interfaces as one of four key research areas. New nuclear plants are expected to employ significantly more advanced technology than the systems in the current reactor fleet as well as utilize automation to a greater extent. However, advancing technology and increasing automation does not necessarily imply improved efficiency and safety of the plant. Instead, a number of concerns about how these technologies will affect human performance and the overall safety of the plant need to be addressed. More specifically, it is important to investigate how the operator and the automation work as a team to ensure effective and safe plant operation, also known as the human-automation collaboration (HAC). The HAC project at INL, investigates collaboration methods between a system’s automation and human operators and how that collaboration impacts the performance and reliability of overall system performance. Some well documented human performance issues associated with typical human automation collaboration methods include reduced operator situation awareness (SA), complacency, and over reliance on the system automation (Endsley, 1995, 1996, 1997; Endsley & Kaber, 1999; Kaber & Endsley, 1997, 2004; Parasuraman et al., 2000; Sheridan, 2002; Wickens & Hollands, 2000; Wright & Kaber, 2005). The HAC research effort addresses how to best design the collaboration between the operators and the automated systems in a manner that has the greatest positive impact on overall plant performance and reliability, hence addressing many of the documented issues. The ultimate goal of the HAC research effort is to develop design guidance that supports optimal interaction between humans and automated systems.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1482987
- Report Number(s):
- INL/EXT-15-35791-Rev002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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